=== Chapter 7 Last Day: Part 1 New Roommates ====

"Good morning Jenny. It's time to get up."

"Mmph" Jenny said, trying to shake the sleep off. "Hey, you're not Tina."

"Well you passed the eye test." John said as he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm and pumped it up.

Jenny eyed him suspiciously. "You don't have a shot for me do you?"

John smiles, "No shots this time. I swear. Tina is off to a wedding or something so I grabbed her shift for the overtime. Now can you sit up for me so I can give a listen?"

As Jenny sits up, John reaches around to untie the top two ties on her gown, but he leaves her gown in place as he slips his hand underneath. As he puts the bell on her chest, she feels his warm hand on her breasts. She thinks about how horrifying this would have been just a couple of weeks ago, now it seems normal.

John then moves to her back, spreading her gown a bit, but leaving her breasts covered. "Deep breath in. Now let it out." John repeated variations of this as he moved all over her back, until he put his stethoscope away and tied her gown back.

As he made notes in her chart, he said "Your lungs sound so much better than when you first came here. Almost normal. Now I just need you to turn over for your temperature, side or stomach, which ever you prefer."

This was one of things she really like about John. He was the best at treating them like adults. She didn't really care too much about face down verses laying on her side, but she liked that he asked. As she rolled over on her tummy, she decided that John was her favorite nurse, even if he did come baring a lot of sharp objects.

As he lubricated her thermometer, John watched the teen roll over. He liked to give his young adult patients as many choices as he could. Being in the hospital took away so many choices and getting some back was a small thing to give them a little dignity. And it increased cooperation.

John opened the gown to reveal Jenny's petite pale bottom with fading bruises from repeated shots. He used a thumb and two finger to spread her buttocks and expose a pink rose. He placed the bulb of the thermometer on her anus and waited for it to relax before gently inserting it about an inch and a half into her rectum.

He then released her cheeks and put a hand loosely across her bottom. He put just enough pressure to support the thermometer but didn't press down like some of the nurses did.

Jenny felt John's fingers spread her cheeks apart followed by the cold of the bulb against her anus. She gave a little shudder as she felt the thermometer penetrate her and a little internal sigh as she felt the light touch of his hand on her bottom. Unlike some of the more ... controlling nurses, it was just enough to be comforting and a little .... no no nope banish that thought.

John broke the spell a bit by telling her, "Transportation is supposed to be arriving soon to take you to radiology for a chest x-ray. As long as that is OK, Dr. Lee should be sending you home today. She has the orders in pending the x-rays and a last look at you."

Jenny felt John spread her buttocks again and withdraw the thermometer and then felt a tissue gently wipe some lubricant from her anus followed by the soft hospital gown recovering her bottom.

"You can turn back over." John said as he read the thermometer and then cleaned it and put it back in its holder.

"Your temperature is normal and your lungs sound clear. Hopefully the x-rays show clear too. Now you might want to take the chance to use the restroom and eat your breakfast before transportation gets here, if the arrive on time. Don't be surprised if they show up anytime between now and lunch." John said as he moved to Cindy in the next bed.

Mandy was an early riser and had already been awake when John had entered the room. She had watched with curiosity and a little anxiety as he had went from Tim to Jenny, and now to Cindy taking vitals. As she watched Cindy turn over over on her side, top leg bent at the knee, to expose her bottom and a little bit of her vulva to John and the room, her anxiety increased just a bit.

She was next. In a few minutes it would be her butt (and maybe a bit of her genitals) exposed to the room and to the nurse, a MALE nurse. She will be feeling John's fingers spreading her open. His hand on her bottom.

She had never had a male nurse before. She doesn't remember having a man take her rectal temperature before. (OK. The doctor who stuck finger up her butt the other day was probably male, but she was repressing that. Well, Dr. Jackson a few times, but not a male nurse.)

She was not sure how she felt about the idea. Still, he seemed to treating them more like adults than the other nurses. Tim and Jenny had rolled over on to their stomachs but Cindy had been on her side. And he had let all of them choose.

She wasn't sure what was better. The side lying position seemed more ... mature. On the other hand as she could see with Cindy, it exposed more. Well, she did not have to decide right now. She still had the temperature monitoring probe up her butt.

She was still thinking about it when John walked over. "Good morning Mandy. I hear that you are a frequent flier around here."

"Yeah, I'm a bad penny, although this is my first time at this end of the floor. Got to say that I like it better."

"Well, we will try to make your stay as nice as we can. Can you follow my finger with just your eyes?" John said as he moved his finger around. He then shined a pen light in each eye.

"Good. Good. Normal and reactive. Any dizziness or nausea? Any head ache?" He asked as he wrapped a blood pressure cuff around her arm.

"No, I'm pretty good actually. Despite the temperature issues, I think they got the cocktail in me soon enough."

"Good. Well, I have an order for the day 2 mix, if you need it, and I will be giving you a dose of steroids shortly."

"Is the day 2 mix the caffeine, Tylenol, and Compazine combo?"

"Yes"

"I don't think I need it, but I'll know better after breakfast or maybe lunch." She said, hoping that he wouldn't insist for her own good.

"OK, Dr. Jackson marked it as "if needed". Just don't be afraid to ask if you start to feel the hangover start. The caffeine suppositories aren't standard and have to come up from central pharmacy and that can take a little while. Let's check your vitals now. " John said as he checked her blood pressure, first with her lying down and then sitting up.

Next, undid the top two ties on her gown, but left it on her, mostly covering her chest. He reached a hand inside her gown to listen to her heart. Mandy flushed a little as his hand brushed her breasts. After carefully listening to her heart, he moved the bell of the stethoscope to her back, but put his right hand over her chest under her gown. After a number of "Breath deep"s, he withdrew his hands and helped her retie the gown.

Reading the strip of paper coming out the temperature monitoring device, he said. "Well this makes getting your temperature easy, but it looks like you have returned to a relatively normal pattern. Are you ready to get rid of your tail? It does mean that future temps will be the more traditional way." John asked with a smile.

"Oh yes, I'm ready." She said. She had already had the damn thing removed and reinserted twice for trips to the bathroom.

"Roll over, like you are getting your temperature taken. On your side or all the way over on your tummy." John said as he retrieved a syringe from his pocket.

Mandy rolled away from John onto her left side and pulled her knees up. She felt him move the covers and her gown out of the way, exposing her butt and then felt him rearrange her legs slightly so that the top one was a little further forward. She chose not to think about what was exposed.

"I am going to deflate the balloon then pull it out. It may fill a little strange." Mandy felt the fullness in her rectum retreat and then felt John's warm hand lifting her right buttock. Then came the strange sensation as he pulled out the probe. It thicker coming out than you would expect. Finally she felt a wet towelette wipe her bottom crack and heard John say, "All done. You can cover up now."

She looked at the floppy, soiled tube in John's hands and thought, "I'll stick to regular thermometers being stuck up my butt."

"I am going to go get your medicine now. Is there anything else you need?"

"mmmmmm. I think that it's getting close to that time of the month. Could I get some tampons?" Mandy said very quietly, suddenly shy. She wasn't sure if a man would understand.

"No problem. Do you use light, medium, or heavy flow?" John said in a manner of a fact tone.

"Medium." She said quietly.

John came back a few minutes later with her steroids and a half dozen tampons that he deposited in the top draw of her nightstand along with a few lube packets. "My wife says they help with the applicator sometimes."

"This is a small, easy shot. Left arm or right?" John asked.

"Left, I guess." Mandy said a bit dazed. She had been expecting to have to bare her butt to the room again. She couldn't remember any shot in the hospital that did not go in her butt. And hurt.

"OK, just let your arm dangle and breath in and out." John said as he cleaned her deltoid with an alcohol pad. "Here it comes."

Mandy had been psyching her self up for the shot when she felt a little pinch and said, "What?"

"All done. I told you that it was an easy one. Well I have more duties to get to. Breakfast should be here soon." John says and heads out.

Mandy is a little bit stunned.

"You OK Mandy, look a little ...." Cindy asked.

"It's just that I barely felt that. Hum? I guess he is good with needles."

Later that morning, John is doing paper work and getting ready to do an IV for one of the LPNs, when nurse Sarah, a nurse who floats to both ends of the floor, taps him on the shoulder. "Hey John, got a minute?"

"Sure Sarah, what's up?"

"Just a heads up that you have a couple of more patients incoming. There is a Bill Miller coming in for some sort of throat surgery, removing a polyp or something."

"Yes, he's on the roster. Coming in late morning or early afternoon. Have not got the chart yet though."

"Apparently they might send him direct to the floor instead of doing the intake exam in receiving. They have some sort of back up and they might have sent the files down to the other end of the floor."

"So it's a day ending with y." John joked.

"Yeah. He shouldn't be too bad other than the extra work. He was referred by some small town doc named Taylor. We've had a few of her patients before. All good eggs, no real fussy cases. But you are also getting a direct admit from the ER. Kelly Smith. Pneumonia. She is apparently not happy to be going to peds. Or about a lot of other things."

"Well, I've dealt with that type before. I can deal with them again. Anyway, I don't think that her roommates will put up with her whining. They are a good group. They will help set her straight."

"Or we could turf her to the wards." Sarah joked.

---

Downstairs a little bit earlier. Twenty year old college sophomore Bill Miller has arrived at the hospital with a backpack of school work and a bundle of papers. He is nervous to be doing this alone. His mother and his doctor (Dr. Taylor) have arranged this. Since he was under 21 and on his parents insurance, he had to have their permission. That and the insurance forms were what were in the bundle of papers.

He paused before entering the hospital. He put up a good front as practically a full adult, but he was nervous about this. This was his first time in the hospital and he would be here for at least a week, maybe longer.

He had been annoyed when he learned that he would have to go to the pediatrics floor. His sister Amy had started to tease him about this, when he reminded her what happened the last time she teased him about having go back to going to a pediatrician when the family doctor they had both been seeing retired. She had quickly apologized.

His return to Dr. Taylor had actually worked out well. He found that liked her kind manner, despite some of her polices. He planned to keep seeing her until she kicked him out at 21 or when he graduated college.

Gathering his courage, he entered the hospital and went up to the information desk. When he got the attention of the lady working it he asked, "Hi, I am William Miller. I am supposed to be admitted today." Then, a little abashed, "I'm . I'm looking for the pediatrics admissions center."

Linda gave the young man a smile. She was used to patients his age being embarrassed to have to go to the peds floor. Still, rules were rules and everyone had to go some where. She quickly found his name on a list of admissions and an indication that he might be showing up alone.

"Are your folks with you or are you here on your own?" She asked.

"By my self. They are across the state, but I have all the consent and insurance forms here." He said holding up a thick manila envelope.

"I'm sure that's fine. Hold on to that. They are having a bit of an issue in the normal peds admissions hall so we are doing things on the fly today. Go ahead and have a seat over there and some one will collect you as soon as they have someone free." She pointed to a waiting area off to the side and he went over to wait.

Bill had been sitting and fidgeting for about fifteen minutes when a middle aged nurse came over and called William Miller. He raised his hand and she came over to him.

"Hello, I'm Sara, an admissions nurse here. Are you William Miller? And do you go by William, Will, Bill, or Billy?"

"Yes ma’am. And I go by Bill."

She had him confirm his date of birth and then asked him if those where his consent and insurance papers.

Taking the paper work she led him back into the hospital, twisting and turning until they came to a nook where a woman was working at a desk that had been hastily set up.

"Sorry that everything is hap hazard Bill. But someone came into our normal area with the measles and contaminated the space. We can't use that area for a few hours while it is cleaned so we making use of whatever spaces we can and everything is backed up."

She gives the lady (Mildred) his papers and after confirming that all of the necessary forms have been signed, she has Bill sign an additional consent form and puts a light red plastic bracelet with his name and other info on it. (He would later learn that the light red was for the peds service.)

"Is there an exam room open so I can get him prepped for the floor?" Sarah asked.

Mildred looks over a hand written schedule and says. "Room 1142B should be free. I don't know if Dr. Lee will be available. Do the nursing work up and then check back to see if she is coming or if she will do her exam on the floor."

"OK. Come with me kid." She says and Bill follows her through a maze of twists and turns until they come to a room labeled radiology prep. The room looks something that looks like a big exam room with gurney for an exam table. There is what looks like an enema bucket handing from an IV stand in one corner.

Finally getting a chance to ask. "Who is Dr. Lee? My surgeon is a Dr. Stein."

"Oh that is just how it works at the hospital. Dr. Stein is your surgeon, but you are being jointly admitted to pediatrics and ENT surgery and you have to get medical clearance for surgery by a doctor at this hospital. So Dr. Lee will give you an exam to make sure that you are fit to undergo surgery. It's a formality, but it important to double check to make sure there isn't some unknown issue. So Dr. Stein will be in over all charge of your care and in charge of your surgical care, but if there are more medical issues, Dr. Lee will take care of that."

"Really it is just to make sure there are no surprises. Normally Dr. Lee would do a quick exam in the intake bay and check your lab work and that would be that. Unfortunately with all the chaos, you might not see her until to get to your room. Understand?"

"Not really, other than I am getting a check up before my surgery?"

"Exactly, now let's get it started. Have a seat on the gurney. I am going to do some preliminaries and then we will find out if Dr. Lee will finish it now or up in your room."

She grabbed a blood pressure cuff and took his blood pressure and checked his pulse, muttering "normal" as she made notes in the chart.

Then she garbed a box with a bunch of vials from a counter top and asked for an arm to draw blood from. Bill offered up his left arm and with only as slight pinch was lighter by 4 tubes of blood.

This is pretty easy Bill thought, then the Sarah put a very small drape on the gurney and said. "OK Bill. Into your birthday suit. I need you to take every thing off."

"Everything? My boxers too?" Bill said, nervous for the first time.

Kindly, but firmly she looked Bill in the eyes and said. "Yes, Bill everything. Don't worry, I have examined plenty of young men. You don't have anything I haven't seen before."

Bill gulped, but started to untie his shoes and undress. After taking off his shoes and socks, he pulled off his shirt, putting it on a chair in the corner. He turned his back on Sarah and took off his pants, carefully folding them. Finally, he took a deep breath and pulled off his boxers.

With all the dignity he could manage, he turned to face Sarah. He walked over to the gurney sat down.

Sarah kept her face professional, but chuckled to herself a bit. She has has to admit that Bill took that with more grace than most young men (and women) his age. Granted most of those were in the intake bay which was less private, but still.

"OK, Bill, step out here on the scale." She said, opening a second door to an area shared by the prep rooms. "Don't worry, the coast is clear."

Bill walked quickly to the scale in the common area. He wanted to get this over with quickly. He had once been seen by his friend Jessica Jones in his underwear when they arrived at the scale at the doctors at the same time. He got to see her in her underwear at the same time, but still it had been embarrassing at the time. (Although they still joke about it to this day.)

Sarah quickly weighted Bill and measured his height. She then led him back to the exam room and told him to hop up on the table. While he sat on the exam table, she went searching through the cabinets for what she needed next. Over to one side she found what she needed: A jar of thermometers marked "RECTAL - Clean" and a tube of surgilube.

"Bill, I need to take your temperature next. I need to take it rectally, that means in your bottom. It's hospital policy so I need you to roll over on to your stomach."

Bill sighed inwardly. "Ugg, you guys do butt temperatures too? I thought it was just Dr. Taylor." Well, he thought, at least my penis is covered in this position.

Sarah was glad that Bill wasn't going to put up a fuss. She watched the twenty year old turn over to expose his butt to her. She parted his cheeks and placed the thermometer against his anus. She paused briefly before inserting it. Then she placed a hand across Bill's butt and consulted her watch.

Recognizing the name, Sarah made some small talk to distract Bill. "Dr. Taylor? Is that Dr. Kate Taylor you see? I know her."

Bill blushed a little. "Yeah. I used to go to a GP, but he retired suddenly when I was 18 and I had to switch back to my old pediatrician because I needed a doctor quickly. I haven't had time to find an adult doctor yet and she'll see me until I graduate college so I haven't pushed ....."

"I'm a little embarrassed to still be seeing a pediatrician, but I guess it kept me used to ... this ..." Bill said trailing off.

"No need to be embarrassed. Lots of college kids still haven't moved on. And she's technically not a pediatrician if that makes you feel any better."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, she might have had a peds sub-specialty, but she technically a boarded family practice doctor. She started out doing both kids and adults, but she didn't like doing OB and what was it she said?"

"It was something like "I got tired of trying to get middle aged men to stop smoking and that a prostate exam wouldn't make them .... well convincing them to get their screenings. She thought she could have more impact with younger folks."

"She heard that .... who was it? a pediatrician named Dr. Klyne I think, was retiring and took over his practice. That's why she lets her older patients linger. Although, I suspect that one of the reasons she is so strict about her rectal temps policy, is that it encourages them to move on. One of the reasons. She really does believe that they are best."

Bill is still thinking about this when he feels Sarah pull the thermometer from his rectum. "99.3. Normal. Go a head and roll over and I will get an EKG and you will be ready for Dr. Lee."

Bill rolls over and is grateful when Sarah puts a very small towel over his penis.

She then put little sticky electrodes on his chest, stomach and legs. She connects them to a portable EKG machine and runs off a tape. Satisfied she pulls off the stickies which actually hurts more than the blood draw did.

"Stay here. I am going to go check on Dr. Lee." Sarah says and leaves Bill sitting there with just a small towel to cover him.

Sarah comes back 10 minutes later. "Go ahead and get dressed Bill. Dr. Lee is going to do your exam on the floor in your room. I'm going to leave you in radiology to get your chest x-ray and then they will take your to your room from there."

Sarah had the now redressed Bill sit an a wheel chair and pushed him down the hall to a small waiting room with two other people in it, both girls in about his age who appeared to be wearing nothing but hospital gowns. The more petite blond girl was fidgeting in her wheel chair constantly adjusting her gown. She looked sick and grumpy and had a small oxygen tank.

The other girl is the opposite. She looks calm and collected and wears her hospital gown like it was a regular dress. Sarah parks his wheel chair next to hers and says that someone will get him when they are ready.

Having nothing better to do, Bill turns to the calm girl and holds out his hand says, "Hi, I'm Bill. I just got here today for throat surgery. You look like you know what goes on here."

Jenny looks at the boy in street cloths. Kinda cute. About her age, maybe a little older. She spots the light red wrist band and holds out her own hand with a similar wrist band. "Jenny. And I've been here for a week or so getting over pneumonia. I hope to be heading home soon if my x-rays are good."

Looking him up and down she adds, "I see your wrist band. Have you been banished to the peds floor?"

Bill blushes a little, "Yeah. Just turned 20 a couple of months ago, so still no drinking and I get put with .... well I am not sure what it will be like. " Bill imagination drifting to to visions of a large open ward.

Jenny pats him on the arm, "Don't worry, you are probably headed down to our end of the floor. They stick the 18 to 20 year olds in some smaller rooms with a little more privacy. Not a lot more, but a little. It's not to bad unless you are real shy and you kind of get over that fast."

"That sounds .... better than what I was expecting." Bill said.

"Say how did you escape the peds intake ward with your cloths on? I had to get naked and temp'ed and examined before being sent up to the floor in a gown." Jenny asked.

"Oh, they have some kind of back up going on. Something about a patient with measles and having to shut it down. They are using rooms all over for the exams. A nurse took me to a room near here for some Dr. Lee to examine me."

"The nurse started things. I had to get naked and weighted get my temperature taken .... mmm down there and such, but then Dr. Lee couldn't make it then so they had me get dressed and come here. I'm supposed to go to my room after the x-ray. It seems like they are scrambling."

"Yeah, it does. So you know that you are going to get your temperature taken...."

"With the butt thermometer. Yeah. Was half expecting it. Not the worst thing, I guess." He shrugged.

Then the other girl spoke up. "What! That wasn't just an emergency room thing? They are really going to keep taking my temperature rectally?"

Jenny shrugged surprised at how causally she said, "It's hospital policy. Everyone under 21 goes to peds and gets rectal temperatures. Even if you were older, with being on oxygen, you'd still be getting rectal temps."

"But it's not fair! I'm 18, not 8." She said. "It's not fair."

"I'm 18 too, almost 19. It's not that big a deal." Jenny said.

"Yeah, I'm 20 and they took my temperature that way too. And like Jenny said, they do that to everyone on oxygen." Bill said trying to make her feel better.

"But they are treating me like a kid! And they didn't even close the curtain all the way!" She muttered.

At that point one of the techs took her back to be x-rayed.

Jenny looked at Bill. "Well that attitude is not going to serve her well. She acts like that and the nurses will treat her like a little kid."

"Yep" said Bill shaking his head. "Some people have to learn the hard way."

"Plus, wait till she gets her temperature taken back in her room. They don't really pull the curtains for temps and shots and such."

"Good to know ... I guess." Bill said with a sigh. Then he smiles and said "Well at least I won't get her as a roommate."

Jenny smirked, "Well ....."

"No."

"Yeah, I was shocked too. The rooms are mixed gender. Right now, there are 3 of us girls and 1 boy in my room, with 2 open beds." Jenny said raising her eye brows.

Bill was about to speak when two techs came out to bring them back to be x-rayed.

Linda, the tech who wheeled Jenny back approached her with a strip of cloth (like a belt from a robe) and asked her to stand up and turn around. Jenny expected to get her butt bared again but the Sarah made sure that the bottom ties were tight and then tighed the cloth belt around her waist.

Jenny wasn't sure what was going on when she felt the top ties undone and the tech was peeling her gown down. Before she knew what was going on, she was nude to the waist, but at least she was covered from the butt down.... I guess.

The tech put a lead apron around her waist and quickly moved her into position. In a few minutes the tech had took all of the images and Jenny was covering up her breasts again.

"I'll just park you out in the waiting room again. I get you if any of the views need redone, but I think they should be good. Transport will take you back to your room."

And Jenny found her self parked back in the waiting room with Bill and the Judy, the girl from the ER, who was still whining.

Shortly there after, the tech came out to fetch Kelly to repeat a view and three men came from transport. One took a seat to wait for Judy and the others took Bill and Jenny back to the 4th floor.

While Jenny goes straight back to room 468, the other orderly pushing Bill, stops at the nursing station. Tom, the transporter, says "I've got a William Miller here for room 468. He's a new admit."

John gets up from the desk, "I'll take him from here. Thanks."

"I'm John. I'm one of the RN's here and I'll be your nurse for the next few hours. What do you go by?"

"I go by Bill."

"OK Bill. Let me grab you a gown and a couple of things for you and I will get you settled in your bed. I know they are backed up in intake, but did you get examined by Dr. Lee?"

"No. I got a chest x-ray and the nurse took my blood and temperature and such, but Dr. Lee wasn't able to get there."

"Well, I am sure she will be along soon enough. Sit tight. I'll be back in a minute." John said as he ducked into a supply closet. He quickly came back with a gown, a male hygiene kit, and a rectal thermometer kit.

John has Bill get out of the wheelchair and follow him down the hallway, stopping at room 468. "Don't worry. Your roommates are nice." Then John opens the door and he and Bill go around a little curtain that blocks the room from view from the hallway.

Even though Bill was warned by Jenny, he is still surprised with what he sees. There are six beds, three on each side and a set of bathroom doors at the other end. The two nearest beds on one side are empty, the third one contains a tall lanky girl sitting with her feet under her reading a book. On his left are three beds. The closest one contains a boy who looks to be his age and is dozing, the farthest bed is a redheaded girl, with her leg in a cast propped up and the head of the bed up, and is the middle on is Jenny, who smiles and waves at him.

"Folks, this is Bill. He has throat surgery tomorrow so be nice to him. Bill this is Tim, Jenny, Cindy, and Mandy. Don't play Euchre for money with them unless Mandy is your partner."

"Hey now, I do OK." Tim says, with out opening his eyes.

"You'll be in the middle bed next to Mandy." John says as he hand Bill a gown and a pair of yellow grippy socks. "You can change in the bathroom. Everything off, the gown ties in the back. After you change, I'll get your vitals and see if I can find you a lunch tray."

Bill put his backpack on the bed, slipped his shoes off, and walked to one of the bathrooms. He stripped down, again, and put the gown on. It took him three tries to get all of the ties closed then he put on the yellow socks with the rubbery coating.

He was a little nervous. He knew what a vitals check implied. This would be the first time that he had had his temperature taken in front of strangers. And the first time by a male nurse. Taking a deep breath, he reminded himself what his mother had taught him, "Act the age you want to be treated". After a final check in the mirror to make sure his butt was covered, he walked back to take a seat on his bed.

John quickly wrapped a blood pressure cuff on his arm and pumped it up. Bill tried to relax. "A little high, but not too bad. A little nervous?"

"Maybe" he said.

John measured his pulse and gave a quick listen to his heart and lungs. Then he said the thing that Bill had been fretting over. "I just need to get your temp Bill. Go ahead and turn over on your tummy or on your left side." John said as he was lubricating the thermometer with a red tip.

Bill hesitated for a second. He had always been face down for temperatures, but that would leave him mooning the whole room. On his side would give ... Mandy a better view but .... He rolled over on his left side.

Bill felt the cool air on his butt and little blush on his ... top .. cheeks as John moved his gown out of the way. He then felt his left buttock raised and gave a little grunt as the thermometer was thrust into his rectum. As he laid there, he noticed that nightstand for the empty bed next to him had a liquid filled cylinder with a red tipped thermometer in it. He wondered if they would be getting another person to fill out the room soon.

After a few of minutes, while John warned him to expect a visit from Dr. Lee soon, the door opened and a wheelchair was pushed around the curtain by an orderly. Bill recognized the patient in the chair as the 18 year old from radiology. He was stuck between a sigh and a snicker internally as he saw her eyes go big a saucers.

John looked up and said, "Put Kelly by the last bed." To Kelly, "I'll get you settled in Kelly as soon as I finish her with Bill." He then pulled the thermometer from Bill's butt and took a tissue to clean it. "You can cover up and turn back over Bill. Your temperature is ..... 99.0 perfectly normal. I'll get Kelly settled and check on lunch trays for both of you."

A few minutes earlier....

Kelly was feeling miserable and cranky. Even with the oxygen it was hard to breath, she was sweaty, and she ached all over. And she was riding up the elevator to the kids floor. She was 18 damn it.

The elevator opened on to the 4th floor and she was pushed past large wards with open doors and windows. This is getting worse and worse she though as they pulled up to the nurses station and the orderly announced, "I have a Kelly Lynn Smith, an admit from the ER." He handed the nurse a folder with orders.

The nurse flipped though the orders and looked at some papers on her desk and handed them back to the orderly. "She is to go down to the other end of the floor, room 468. Give these orders to her nurse." And she returned to fight the many fires that today had brought.

After going past more wards and through a couple sets of double doors, they come to a corridor that was different. There were no windows in the walls, the rooms must be smaller based on the number of doors, and she couldn't see in the windows on the closed doors.

The orderly stopped at an other nurse's station, but it was empty, so he went on directly to her room. When he opened the door, Kelly could tell why she couldn't see in the other room. There was sort of a privacy curtain in front, blocking the view. The orderly wheeled her around the curtain and into the room.

Kelly looked around and froze, her eyes going wide. There were five patients in the room that looked to be her age or maybe a little older. Three were female, but two were MALE! One of male patients (was that the annoying 20 year old from x-ray?) was having his temperature taken RECTALLY. Out in the open. In front of the room. By a male nurse. Would that be her soon?

The nurse said something but Kelly's mind was racing in a hundred different directions as the orderly wheeled her next over to the empty bed and helped her take a seat on it. She had been flipping back and forth between hope and despair all day. Having to go to her old doctor instead of her GP. The trip to the ER. The things they did there. Seeing the open wards and then going past them to what had to be better. OK. It definitely is better, but rectal temperatures out in the open and what else. And she still felt horrible and she knew it was making her behave badly but .... but ... it just wasn't fair.

John flipped through the papers the orderly handed him. It had been sent to the wrong nurse's desk again. This annoyed him since it included new medicine orders. Well, they had the Tylenol here, but no orders for steroids and antibiotics. He would have to check. He also read a note paper-clipped to the chart, but not officially part of it. Oh joy, it looks like she may be a fussy one. Well, he had had a run of good eggs lately, there were always problem patients to balance out the good ones. He would have to see how she acts.

Looking down at the girl who has a deer in the headlight look to her, John squats down a bit to get at her level and says, "Hey there Kelly, my name is John. I'm going to be be your nurse for the next few hours, can I see your wrist band to confirm your identity?"

"Oh, OK." She says really looking at John for the first time. At least he looks friendly.

After checking to see if she needs to use the restroom, John switches her to room oxygen and gets her sitting up in the bed. "I'll be right back. I need you get some supplies for you and to see if your medicine orders have arrived, then I will check your vitals and get you settled in."

"By the way, these are your roommates, Tim, Jenny, Cindy, Mandy, and Bill. Bill is new like you, but the rest have been here for a while and can show you the ropes. Don't worry, they are all nice." John patted her on the shoulder and went off to collect what he needed.

Mandy walked over to Kelly and sits in the chair by her bed. "Hi, I'm Mandy. You look a little scared. Is this your first time in the hospital?"

Kelly coughed a little and looked up to the tall lanky woman an a gown like hers. "Sniff. Yeah, it's so overwhelming. I've been sick all week and it was hard to breath and my doctor sent me to the ER this morning and I had to get naked in front of a bunch of people and they used a baby thermometer on me like when I was a kid even after I told them I was 18 and too old and it's not fair."

"Oh honey, fair has nothing to do with it. They have their policies to try to make this place work and for your safety. Some of them aren't fun and I disagree with some of them, but they are just doing their best. And most of the doctors and nurses are ... well .. .just kind of used to our nudity. They don't even notice it half the time. You are going to have a lot of things aimed at your butt over the next few days. It'll be easier for you if you accept that."

"And they are not trying to treat you like a little kid, but I will give you one thing that will make them do that. The way you act. If you act like a kid, they will treat you like one. If you act your age, most of them will treat you like an adult."

"Most?" Kelly said skeptically, not quite buying every thing Mandy was saying.

Mandy shrugged. "Most. There are always going to be some that think: under 21, on peds, treat them like a kid. But most will treat you like the age that you act. And that goes both ways."

Tim spoke up for a change, "That is the honest truth. It does go both ways. My mom's friend is a nurse and the stories she tales about middle aged men who act like spoiled 8 year olds in the hospital and that is how she treats them."

"Maybe." Kelly said.

John had paused outside the door, catching the exchange. Hopefully it would help. Otherwise Kelly's time here will be worse than it has to be. And so will our shifts. Well time to go in.

Mandy gets up and goes over to talk with Jenny as John comes in with some supplies that he sets down on the nightstand.

"I've got you a hygiene kit here including some medium tampons, if you need them. Just ring the call bell if you need some privacy to put one in. There is also a tooth brush, some toothpaste, and a comb. There is a woman who comes around once a day with books and magazines. You missed her today, but I did grab a magazine for you. Sorry it's just a month old Time. Now I need to check your breathing and your vitals. Can you sit up for me?"

Kelly was suspicious, but this didn't seem too bad yet. She had seen the red top of the thermometer on her her nightstand, but she was repressing that for now. She sat up. She stiffed a bit when John untied the top two ties on her gown and loosened it a bit, but still leaving her breasts covered. He then slipped a hand into her gown and put the bell just below her left breast.

"A man is touching my chest. It's OK. I can handle this. This is just like in the ER, except that I am not naked. That's better." She thought trying to remain calm.

John moved the stethoscope to her back, but kept his right hand over her chest. He asked her to breath deep and listened closely.

"OK. Hand is still on my chest. But it's not too bad. Kind of like my old doctor." Kelly thought until she broke out into a coughing jag.

John frowned at the sound of the cough. Her lungs sounded too wet for his comfort and her heart rate was too high, although that could be stress too. He grabbed the BP cuff and wrapped around her arm pumping it up.

"This is better. Just my arm. No breasts. No other things. Maybe this will be it and I can go to sleep for a while." Kelly thought.

"That is lower than I would like. I am going to need to scare up Dr. Lee. She needs steroids at least. Well, now comes the fight. Let's give her the best chance to act mature." John thought as he documented her pulse and BP.

"OK Kelly, I need to get your temperature next. Do you want to roll over on your side or your stomach?" John said gently, holding up a lubricated rectal thermometer.

"But I'm 18! I'm not a kid. Can't you get a mouth thermometer?" Kelly whined before falling into another coughing jag.

"I'm sorry but we have to do it this way. It's hospital policy. And with the oxygen and your cough, we wouldn't get a good oral temperature anyway. Let's get you over on your belly." John said kindly but firmly to the teen after she stopped coughing. He guided her over into a prone position and pulled the covers down.

Kelly was just tired and cranky and done with it all. Accepting her fate, she let John turn her over and buried her face in the pillow. It wasn't fair, she thought as she felt the cool air on her bottom as John parted her gown.

Deciding that he needed to exert a little more control than he normally did, John placed the palm of his left hand at the top of Kelly's butt to maintain control. He used his thumb and first two fingers to spread the teen's buttocks. He then placed the bulb of the thermometer against her anus and waited for it to relax.

Kelly felt John put a hand on her bottom and spread her cheeks. She twitched a bit and then felt the thermometer slide into her rectum, followed by a strong hand cupping her bottom and pushing down into the bed. She was about to be indignant at being held down like a child, when she realized that is how she had been acting.

"I'm sorry. I don't know why I have been acting this way." She said quietly. Then added, "Well, yes I do. I guess."

"Go ahead. It'll make you feel better to talk it out." John said gently, trying to encourage Kelly.

"I mean part of it is that I just feel awful and cranky, but well .... When I was young I had some problems with oral thermometers and my pediatrician labeled me a mouth breather. I got rectal temps until I changed to my GP, Dr. Green. But this morning I was really sick and Dr. Green was full up, so Mom called Dr. Jones, my old pediatrician and got me in."

"I didn't want to go, but I was really sick so..... Well I got there and it all seemed so childish. When I went back to the exam room .... Well they had two thermometers. I thought that the nurse would ... you know... use the mouth thermometer, but she looked at the red sticker on my chart and then reached for the .... the rectal thermometer."

Kelly took a deep breath before continuing. "I told her that I was... that I was 18 and that I could use an oral thermometer now. And she looked at me and said 'I'm sorry honey, but Dr. Jones wants you to have the tushy thermometer and I see in your chart that's the only one you've had here. Now roll over so I can put this in your tushy.' Tushy thermometer! Tushy thermometer! She was talking to me like I was a little kid."

"Then I was sent to the emergency room. And I was naked in front of everyone and they stuck a thermometer in my butt without even telling me and they sent me to the kids floor and ... and ... and you're the first one to treat me like an adult and I spoiled it by acting like a spoiled brat. And I still feel cranky. But I'm sorry." She trail off.

John lessened the pressure on her bottom, just loosly supporting the thermometer like he normally does. "Does it feel better to get that all out?"

"A little." She said.

"Well, I will tell you a couple of things I've learned from being a nurse. One, a lot of folks, even ones decades older than you, sometimes don't act their age when they are sick. And two, most of them don't recognize it in themself as well as you just did."

"Really?"

"Yeah really. And it sounds like the nurse at Dr. Jones wasn't used to treating young adults. She treated you like a child and that made it worse. And then you started acting like you were treated."

"Maybe" She sniffed.

"Want to start over? I can't speak for everyone and you are still going to have to put up with rectal temps and some other things you might not like, but if you act your age, I'll treat you like it. Deal?"

"Deal. And thanks."

"You're welcome. I'm going to take the thermometer out but stay there. I have a Tylenol suppository for you."

"Oh, I've never had one of those before, just the ones that help you go to the bathroom."

"Your temperature is 103.9, so you really need this." John said.

Kelly felt John separate her butt cheeks again, but this time she felt his finger push in the suppository. It felt much bigger than the thermometer, even thicker than the enema nozzle and he kept the finger in her rectum for a long time (25 seconds) before withdrawing it and squeezing her buttocks together for another 20 seconds or so.

John closed her gown and helped her get turned over and covered with a sheet, although he left the blanket off. He cranked up the head so she was semi-sitting and could breath a little easier.

"Dr. Lee, the doctor who will take care of you for your stay should be up to examine you soon and order medicine for you. I'll also try to see about getting one of the aids to give you a sponge bath. That should make you feel a little better."

"OK. Is he nice? Is he a good doctor?"

"SHE is a very good doctor. She is nice too, but her bedside manner and sense of humor are a little mmm blunt. She is also a little careless with nudity sometimes. But she will listen to you and take what you say seriously, even if she doesn't handle .... tact too well."

"Thanks for the warning. It'll be nice to have a woman doctor for a change." Kelly said thoughfully. "Not that your not a nice nurse." She added quickly before coughing again.

"Try to get some rest." John said before leaving to bug Dr. Lee.